Yulia Popkova discussed changing approaches to regional tariff regulation

On 3 March 2016, the Head of FAS Department for Regional Tariff Regulation, Yulia Popkova, analyzed the work on tariff disputes settlement and discussed possible cooperation between regional antimonopoly bodies and regional regulators.

According to the Head of the Department, FAS drafted a Government Decree on a universal procedure for investigating all types of disputes. It will reduce the petition review period and eliminate current confusion.

The Antimonopoly Service is considering possibility of amending the federal laws to eliminate numerous double procedures. “We plan to formalize only one of them: investigating cases on violating the law in government tariff regulation”, stated Yulia Popkova.

Further discussing the amendments to the law, the Head of the Department highlighted draft changes to the Code on Administrative Violations: expanding the institution of disqualification and corpus delicti in government price regulation; administrative liability for officials, etc.

She specially drew attention of FAS regional bodies to monitoring tariff decisions and exposing violations that resulted or could have resulted in increased prices.

“We propose that Public Advisory Councils at the regional antimonopoly bodies should consider tariff regulation issues, which will enable efficient cooperation between OFAS and regional regulators”, concluded Yulia Popkova.